Hope, Emma and Doug: the Genetics Lab

[xp_trance]

Hope completes her first mission as white Herald 


There was a distinct smell to the lab, a mix of ethanol and some less identifiable chemicals. Everything looked clean; the kind of cleanliness that came from using chemicals that could break apart your DNA every single day and therefore being very, very careful to clean up every surface between experiment runs. The signs on the walls about not eating in the lab and those pointing at the Safety Data Sheets were written in serious fonts and colours. There was a quiet hum of air-conditioning and computers in stand-by mode and a steady pulse of quietly working machinery coming from the room behind the closed door at the far end of the lab.

There was, however, a distinct lack of scientists occupying any of the benches at the lab or the surrounding corridors or offices. Doug had obviously worked his usual magic.

Hope carefully made her way through the hallway, trying to look like she belonged, even though she knew many of the staff would be in the meeting. Black slacks and a red blouse gave a professional air, along with the slender frames the rested on her face and the press credentials for a college newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky around her neck. The red streaks in her hair though showed a touch of rebellion. 

 ~Everything seems quiet so far. No staff seems around.~ Hope reported telepathically to Ms. Frost as she recalled the blueprints of the lab. 

 ~Doug’s magic is, as always, quite magical,~ replied Emma, ~I’ve done a fairly shallow scan of the area around you and my impression is that there’s a large, and quite feisty, meeting going on about 100 feet away from where you are. Something about health and safety that seems to have been determined to be ridiculous by the majority of attendees. Also, I shall try not to leak, but if I absent-mindedly call you Governor, forgive me. Certain other parts of my brain are busy with entertaining a man with considerably more power than sense. And by entertaining I mean convincing him not to agree to sign up to a particularly stupid anti-mutant piece of legislation. Work work work.~ Emma’s skill with her telepathy was such that her eye-roll was clearly conveyed to Hope.

~Good luck with that~ Hope commented slightly absentmindedly as she made her way to a nearby door that would give her entrance to the lab. "Damn." She cursed softly when she tried the door and it turned out to be locked. Putting down the little cooler bag she had received earlier she reached into her purse for a small nail file case. From it though she did not slip a file, but two slender lock picks part of a set Wade had given her. 

 Kneeling down, she slipped both into the lock, hoping no one would come by. Her cover story could stand some scrutiny, but lock picking would be very hard to explain away. 

~You are allowed to ask, you know,~ Emma’s telepathic voice was mildly amused. ~There isn’t anyone approaching at the moment, but if anyone heads by, I shall suggest that they’d best take another hallway to their destination. People tend to pay attention to my suggestions.~

~Not surprised at that.~ Hope commented as she listened for the small clicks in the lock, until a slightly larger one sounded. ~There.~ Quickly she rose and gathered her things before making her way into the lab and heading directly for the side room. Like in the main lab, no one was there, just various machines that were humming away. 

 Scanning them Hope quickly found the machine she had been shown to operate. It seemed to have finished it's cycle and she popped the button to open it. ~Hell...~ 

The instructions Samira had given her were quite clear. The thermal cycler that was being used was one of the older types, requiring PCR tubes to be filled and placed into the wells. Samira had made it very clear that the tubes were likely to be labelled and that the labelling and position of the tubes would have to be replicated exactly. Fortunately, Hope didn’t have to worry about which particular replacement tubes were labelled and positioned to replace those in the cycler, but she still had to replicate those labels as exactly as she could and position them precisely. It was why her bag contained a truly epic numbers of coloured sharpies and a label maker – without knowing how the tubes were going to be labelled, every option had to be covered.

Two of the tubes were easy – marked with a plus and a minus sign, they were obviously the positive and negative reagent tests Samira had mentioned. Those tubes could be left where they were. The other – Hope’s visual scan was fast – 48 replacement tubes would need to be labelled to match what was already in the machine.

~I am going to be spending time here longer than I thought. I will have to mark the tubes to match. I hope the meeting is still in full swing?~ Hope relayed as she started setting out her supplies. She took a photo, so that she had a reminder of how the tubes were exactly arranged, then payed closer attention to how the tubes were marked with different colored sharpies on top. Red, blue, green and purple and she pulled them out and lined them up. Finally she took the container that held the replacement tubes, put it down next to the machine and snapped on a pair of gloves.   

 Emma left the smallest portion of her mind politely listening to the twaddle coming out of the mouth of the governor and reached out to assess the meeting and its dynamics. While no-one was quite ready to start talking about wrapping up yet, there was a definite air of people wanting to get back to their work. With a quick scan, Emma found the kind of mind she was looking for: petty, bureaucratic, pedantic. With a couple of swift nudges, he was suddenly very interested in a number of issues that hadn’t been made clear at the beginning of the meeting, a sudden Ouroboros of detail that took the meeting right back to its own beginning, to go over everything again in greater depth.

 ~As long as no-one completely loses it, you’ve got at least fifteen minutes,~ Emma reported back to Hope.

 ~Should be doable, but I might be cutting it close~ Hope replied as she removed the first replacement tube, copied the pattern of the first tube in the lab's machine with her markers and switched them around. After a few tubes she sped up a little, the pattern becoming familiar. Precision was still required in the choice of the colors though as placement back in the machine. ~Doug, any chance you can put my appointment earlier in the system? With them stuck in the meeting, I will have the necessary excuse to why I am wandering around. Especially if the receptionist is away from his desk as well.~ 

 ~Of course.~ Doug tapped away at the keyboard in front of him, splitting his attention between the screen, Hope's presence, and the background status coming from Emma as she brushed her consciousness over the meeting attendees and prodding them gently this way and that to stretch things out.  ~Goodness, someone is going to be coming back to an awful lot of overdue meeting notices...~ he observed, the tone of his thoughts wryly amused.

~Thanks Doug. That does help.~ Hope fell silent as she sped up a little more, marking an replacing the tubes, but 48 tubes took her a while. Finally she slotted the last one into place, packed up her supplies and picked up the picture she had taken earlier to see if the pattern on the tubes matches. Hope changed the position of one or two a little before slipping of her gloves and shutting the machine. ~First part completed. Now let's see if I can find a suitable computer.~

 ~Someone in the meeting was thinking it was a good thing Oscar was sick today or the meeting would be going a lot longer,~ replied Emma. ~If he’s got an office nearby, we might be able to tuck you away there, if anyone decides they desperately need the bathroom and escape from work health and safety meeting hell. Do you want Doug to see if he can find the office?~

 ~Preferably one close to my appointment's office. Then it makes sense if I am seen there. I am prepared to fake my way through a brief interview. Perhaps someone who has somewhat lax security... like those who leave behind notes with their passwords on it..." Hope replied as she reset the program and made sure that she absolutely had left nothing behind. 

~Who needs an absent-minded professor when we have a White Knight hacker extraordinaire?~ responded Emma. ~Doug, could you see if you could find if this missing Oscar has a suitable office near Hope’s appointment? And if he does, would you be able to make sure Hope can access what she needs?~

Doug pivoted to another screen, where the office floor plan was sitting for just such an eventuality.  ~I think people don't like Oscar,~ he observed wryly.  ~He's got a mid-hallway office on the interior of the building, so no windows, and he's pretty near the HVAC.  Looks like Dr. Dowden's office is down the hall and around a corner, so that's probably enough for plausible deniability...~  He went quiet for a moment, concentrating on his work, then came back.  ~Naughty boy, Oscar, not following proper procedure and locking your computer when you're away from it...~

Hope needed a moment to visualize where she needed to go once she left the lab, but then strode confidently towards the office Doug had indicated. ~On my way there now. Ms. Frost, how is that meeting going? I have a feeling time might be getting a little tight?~

Emma scanned again. ~The meeting has a little longer to go,~ she sent. ~But there’s at least one stray out in the corridors. I would have stopped him, but biology was having its way with him – an assistant professor soiling himself in the middle of an all-staff meeting is going to draw far more attention than the risk that he might stumble across you. Keep an ear out for him, in case his path intercepts yours.~

  ~Will do.~ Hope quieted her footsteps as much as possible, but with small heels she could not quiet everything. Hopefully it would be enough not draw attention and she was almost at the office Doug had indicated, when she encountered bespectacled and very surprised face. ~Oh damn...~ 

  ~Good thing you've been doing so much training.~ Emma's voice in Hope's head was wryly unhelpful. While she had made her trust in Hope quite clear, she had also made it clear that this was a test, and it seemed like the time for the exam had arrived.

 "Can I help you?" It was clear that Doctor Irritable Bowel Syndrome was confused to find someone in the halls, but assumed no malice on Hope's part.

~Ha ha.~ Hope sent as she put a relieved expression on her face. "I sure hope so. I've been wondering here for over ten minutes. I've an appointment with Dr. Dowden. I was supposed interview her." A flurry from words rushed out, punctuated  with quick gestures. "Is she around? My editor will be so upset with me if I'm not back on time with this piece!"  

 "Upset with you?" The Doctor smiled politely. "That doesn't sound good. Everyone is in a meeting at the moment. I..." The look that briefly flitted across his face was just a tiny bit crafty, a sudden realization that he had a perfectly good excuse not to go back to the meeting. "I know where Dr Dowden's office is. Let me walk you there."

"That would be wonderful!" Hope smiled gratefully at him as she matched his pace easily. "Do you know if it will take long for Dr. Dowden to finish with the meeting, sir?" Soon then she expected they arrived at the door of an office and Hope got the idea he'd be willing to wait with her. "Thank you so much, sir. If you have to return to the meeting as well... I don't mind waiting here for a bit."

Dr IBS smiled broadly. “Oh no!” He blinked happily through his glasses. “I’m sure the meeting has only a few minutes to go. There is only so much one can talk about in regards to work health and safety. Well, most people, anyway.” The note in his voice was clearly aimed at someone in the still continuing meeting. “I’m happy to wait here with you until the good doctor returns. What publication do you work for? A science publication? Or a student newspaper. I used to be the reviewer of campus social hotspots back in my day as a student. Not that you can probably imagine that now.” He beamed broadly, obviously looking back on his student days with unalloyed fondness.

"I'm a part of the Louisville Cardinal, the student paper of the University of Louisville. We're doing an article on women in STEM professions." Hope held up the press credentials around her neck. "It sounds like you had an interesting time as a student." She hesitated for a moment before adding: "I hope I'm not too forward, but would you happen to have any Tylenol? I have a bit of a headache..."  

“Oh,” the good doctor’s face fell quite dramatically. “That’s really not good. And just before an interview. No, no, it’s alright, I have some Tylenol in my office. Will you be alright staying here while I go and fetch it?” From concern, a sudden cunning look flitted over the doctor’s face. It was becoming increasingly obvious that, despite a life spent amongst the back-stabbing deadliness of academic politics, he had not managed to develop even the slightest hint of guile. “I am not quite sure where they are in my office,” he said, his face all sunny smiles again. “It may take me a few minutes to find it. And then I’d be happy to sit with you until Dr Dowden comes back. Just in case.” His happiness at having come up with a cunning and faultless plan not to have to return to the meeting, no matter how long it ran, was obvious. 

 ~Now this has to be quick.~ Hope sent as she rose and tried the office door. ~They really need better security measures.~ She added as she slipped behind the desk, pulled on a pair of gloves to be sure and gave the mouse a quick move to get the computer from standby mode. ~She even has her password on a post-it!~  

Quickly she typed in the password, then removed a small thumb drive from her pocket and slipped it in one of the ports. A few clicks later a small bar was filling slowly as the program worked through the computer. 

~The good doctor is not hurrying back to you,~ Emma observed dryly in Hope’s head. ~He’s perfectly happy to try and make sure he doesn’t have to go anywhere near that meeting. However, even with my best efforts, there’s only so many times I can make someone plausibly repeat questions on safety issues, without the other participants suspecting some kind of acquired brain injury. You probably have about three minutes before everyone will be heading back to their offices.~

~Three minutes is plenty of time,~ Doug affirmed.  ~Passwords on post-its, how much do you want to bet they have one of those 'if you change your password more frequently, that makes it more secure' policies?~  The derision came through loud and clear in his mental voice.  ~I'll give 2-to-1 odds a CIO who knows more about sleeping with interns than he does about IT came up with that one.~ 

Hope calmly observed the bar till it was full, then closed the program, removed the thumb drive and sent the computer back in its standby mode. ~Time to get out of here.~ While she rose, she quickly glanced around, making absolutely sure she was leaving nothing behind and made for the door. 

Picturing the blue prints in her mind, once she was in the hallway, she made for a small maintenance corridor. A few quick wiggles of handy credit card had the door open and she slipped inside. ~Mission accomplished.~ She projected, striving to keep the pleasure at having managed it down. 

~And a wriggle and a tickle and our good doctor with the terrible bowels has forgotten about you completely. Well done, my Herald.~ Emma’s warm approval was gentle in Hope’s mind. ~Hopefully this will mean that one potentially very dangerous line of inquiry is not going to be pursued. Now for the next thirty or so.~ Emma managed to convey her wryly raised eyebrow across the telepathic link. ~I look forward to seeing you back in New York soon.~